Diabetes: chronic but manageable disease

A PATIENT'S VOICE / Bhupendra Sheoran

Published 4:21 pm, Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Bhupendra Sheoran, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 2007, plays with his daughter at dinner.

Bhupendra Sheoran, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 2007, plays with his daughter at dinner.

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

Diabetes: chronic but manageable disease

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As a doctor, Bhupendra Sheoran treated patients. As associate director of the Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center in San Francisco, he helped coordinate health services for a diverse population. But in 2007, he was diagnosed with a condition of his own: diabetes. Sheoran, 40, who moved from India to Oakland in 2005, is deputy director of Isis, a nonprofit dedicated to sexual and reproductive health. He may not be able to eat as much white rice as he'd like, he says, but he's learned to responsibly handle his disease.

The first time I realized I had diabetes (was) when my lab results came back from the test. I called up my mom and then I spoke to her and some of my uncles. I quickly realized that my father had suspected diabetes when he was alive, my sister had gestational diabetes and two of my uncles had diabetes. But it had never come up in conversation, so I didn't know.

They would eat whatever I ate - dessert, white-flour stuff, high-carb stuff. They didn't seem to take any precautions. It also seemed like nobody wants to talk about chronic illness, so that might have been the reason why it never came up. Also, I realize that all these were men, and men in my family have this macho image. They have to appear strong and saying they have a chronic illness makes them feel like they might look weak.

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Immediately after I got diagnosed, I became really, really strict with my diet. I went to a very low-carb diet. I lost a ton of weight even though I was not overweight at all - I was the right weight for my height and age. I became very thin and gaunt looking, and I realized that I was overcompensating to the other extreme. I started getting weak as well. I then started having conversations with my nutritionist and my doctor.

Dinner was really heavy before diabetes. It was my heaviest meal of the day. It would consist of white rice, naan and starch in food - lots of potatoes, lentils.

On a typical day, I still have a low-carb diet. I have moved toward whole grains and vegetables and meat, and totally removed starch from my diet. Breakfast begins with a couple of scrambled eggs, a piece of whole grain toast and a glass of almond milk.

I come to the office, and around 11:30, I eat a low-carb protein bar that gives me energy to work outat 12 in the afternoon. I work out until 1:30, then I have my lunch. Lunch is typically some protein in the form of lentils and ... grilled chicken or roasted chicken breast, all white meat, and a bit of brown rice ... or I will have one Indian whole-wheat roti (a flat bread).

Around 3:30 to 4, I'll have an apple. Dinner is usually pretty low carb as well - salads, chicken. At least once or twice a week, I have some sort of whole-wheat pasta or brown rice with some sort of entree.

I can have traditional Indian food. What I've kept is the vegetables, the lentils that are low in the glycemic index, like chana dal. The other thing is paneer, Indian-style cottage cheese. I do miss naan, and I sometimes will smell white basmati rice and I'll have this intense urge to eat white basmati rice, but I refrain.

In India, serving food or making you eat is a demonstration of love and affection. If that's the one thing they can't do for you, they get really bothered by that and anxious. So they do try and insist, even though they might subconsciously realize it's bad for me. You go to people's houses, and they will always serve tea with a lot of sugar. You have to say, "No." "Oh, what can we get you?"

Then it becomes a big deal because they want to feed you, and you have restrictions, and they don't have stuff you can eat. The next time you go to their house, it's a whole production: "Sheoran is coming, so we have to have all these specialties." You feel uncomfortable because people are going through all this work for you.

What I would say to my friends in the South Asian community is: This is a chronic manageable condition. It's not infectious; you can't give it to other people. Talking about it actually makes it easier for other people to support you in your diet and exercise and in taking medications.My recommendation is to share information with loved ones, because I am sure they want to support you and you will benefit from that support.

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